DURBAN - What should have been a day filled with celebration and cheer for three Durban families who were the victims of crime, turned into a New Year’s Eve that would haunt them.
Two families were the victims of house robberies while another had a loved one shot and killed in a suspected gang related attack.
Emmanuel Johnson, known as Pip, 30, was shot and killed in Wentworth, south of Durban.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the incident happened on Woodville Road where a drug turf war is taking place.
Many bystanders have been killed in the past when rival gangs shoot at one another.
“It is alleged that an unknown gunman fired five shots, one bullet hit the victim on his head. The victim was rushed to Wentworth Hospital in critical condition where he later died. The motive is possibly gang related. No arrests have been made,” Mbele said.
In one of the robberies which occurred on Barton Place in Clare Estate Mbele, she said that the complainant was in her home with her family when four unknown men wearing masks entered their house.
She said all four suspects were in possession of firearms.
Upon entering the house the men demanded cash and jewellery. Two of the men took one victim with them and began to enter all the rooms, ransacking them. The men took assorted jewellery to the value of R20 000, two cellphones and a laptop.
Mbele said no shots were fired or injuries sustained. Sydenham police have opened a case of robbery.
On the same night, police reports also state that there was a house robbery on Mill Road in Avoca, north of Durban.
Four men had walked into the house and demanded valuables. They ransacked the house and made off with several household items. A DStv installer was in the house at that time and the robbers made off with his Renault Sandero.
Mbele said a case of robbery was opened at the Greenwood Park police station.
Daily News